It’s suddenly very real. I’m having my own pop-up exhibition this week! For the past few years I’ve been doing event photography for The Twilight School and seen some inspirational conversations.

Tomorrow night I offer my retrospective view on the events. I’m sharing my excitement as I have to confess that a part of me thought I would never be good enough to do my own exhibition. But you know what? There will always be someone better. And that’s what inspires me to keep experimenting and learning. And that shows in how my current photos are better than what I took several years ago. What matters is that I think I am good enough now, in this moment. And if I want to do it, just do it!

Thanks must also go to Bruno Lettieri. Without him this would still be on my to do list. He supported my fledgling photography skills, and offered me the space for this to come to fruition. It shows what can be achieved when you collaborate.

I’ve had a lot of success with photography projects. These can be big (like my 366 day project) or small (like a trip to Brighton). Projects, or themes, can help you get out of a photography rut or try a new technique.

Today I’d like to share a few shots from the Disposable Camera Project, a great initiative by Colour Box Studio. It’s a simple concept but well executed. A bunch of people turn up to collect a disposable camera, and have to get it back in 24-hours. A few weeks later all the photos are put up as part of an exhibition, no post-processing, no curating, just the shots as taken.

The beauty of this concept is that you shoot what you like and when you like. You rely on a simple plastic camera, have to remember to wind on the film, and have a dodgy little view-finder that means you are never quite sure what is in frame. It’s liberating! So here are a few shots (scanned from the negatives).

Looking down

Finding the unexpected over the fence

Finding a splash of colour

An old halloween ghost

Film and mail, of course

Renovation helper

Lazy suburban days

Remnants of autumn

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I see you, you see me

Looking up

Suburban lanes

Suburban canal

Cycling down lanes (missing)

Historical facts

Get…

Collection day

Overlooking the canal

Lost

Looking down

Spring is coming

I chose the theme suburbia. This gave me an excuse to wander the nearby suburbs over the course of an afternoon and the next morning. I’m happy with most of the shots, and found it was a good experience to have to rely on just one shot rather than taking multiples (just in case). Of course I enjoy the comfort zone offered by digital but it was a reminder that often, the first shot is the best. So I need to be ready!

I’d love to hear from you now, have you been stuck in a photography rut recently? What gets you out? Have you completed any photography projects recently?

Spent some time wandering Bright. We were surprised to encounter a night market where we enjoyed wandering the stalls.

The next day we explored Mr Buffalo. The weather changed as we rose from a lovely summer day to a cloudy, then rainy and cool day at the top of the mountain. What most impressed me were the cyclists. Now that is stamina.

Some photos from the cutting room floor. Earlier in summer I had a great visit to the Brighton Bathing Boxes. I would have liked to capture all of the bathing boxes in their technicolour glory, but with the summer sun beating down I had to limit myself to the occasional shot in between the refreshing water. I can highly recommend a visit at anytime but if you go in summer, just make sure you wear some thongs to protect your feet from the hot sand!

It takes just one click to freeze time and catch it in a frame. This is no grand revelation in a digital age. We have all felt the urge to capture a moment, lifted our handy device (camera or phone) and clicked. The time from noticing to clicking can elapse in seconds. So no surprises there. And yet.

This happy child was chasing after the Chinese New Year parade.

More often than not the image doesn’t quite capture the moment we saw in our mind’s eye. This is both my frustration and my great joy with photography. No matter how close I feel I came to freezing time, to capturing the moment and the emotion, something will be different for you. You will filter my image through a different eye, a different frame.

It is rare for the rain to make it into this window.

So this will be a chronicle of what I see in my world. It is my attempt to climb out and really see, and appreciate my surroundings. And hopefully to hear what your impressions are. We all have to start somewhere, let’s start here.